To understand the Christian tradition and the Divine image of the Mother of God itself, it is useful for every Christian to know the following truths: The Most Holy Virgin Mary is in the literal sense the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the Mother of God; She remains the Ever-Virgin before the birth of Jesus Christ, at Christmas and after Christmas; The Mother of God follows the Savior as the highest power of all heavenly powers - the holy apostles and holy fathers of the church. The books of the Old and New Testaments, and the very earthly life of the Mother of God, lead to such a generalization.

More than two thousand years separate us from the day when the Blessed Virgin was born into the light of God. Today it is difficult to even believe that She had an earthly life filled with human worries, joys and sufferings. We are accustomed to perceiving Her as the Queen of Heaven, but She had her own earthly character traits - a tendency towards peace and thoughtfulness, as evidenced by Her contemporaries. The divine touching smile of the Virgin Mary was forever captured by icon painters; it is not even a smile, but an image of kindness itself.

Mary’s mother’s name was Anna, her father’s name was Joachim, both family branches had venerable ancestors behind them, among whom were patriarchs, high priests and Jewish rulers from the branches of the wise Solomon and the mighty David. Joachim and Anna were not considered wealthy and noble, although they lived comfortably, raising large flocks of sheep. They were oppressed by only one sadness: there were no children. The coming of the Messiah was already predetermined, and childless people were obviously deprived of the hope of having the Messiah as their descendant, which every family secretly dreamed of. Among the Israelis at that time, even the clergy perceived a childless person as being punished from above. This is confirmed by a fact from the life of Joachim. On the feast of the renewal of the Temple of Jerusalem, he, along with other residents, brought rich gifts for the Temple, but the priest refused to accept them - Joachim’s childlessness was the reason for this. He bore his grief heavily, for some time he even retired to the desert, where, crying bitterly, he repeatedly turned to God: “My tears will be my food, and the desert will be my home until the great and wise Lord hears my prayer.” And then Joachim heard the words of the Angel of the Lord: “I was sent to tell you that your prayer has been heard.”

Your wife Anna will give birth to you a wonderful daughter, and you will name her Mary. Here is a confirmation of my words: when entering Jerusalem, behind the Golden Gates you will meet your wife Anna, and she will also delight you with joyful news. But remember that your daughter is the fruit of a divine gift."

The Angel of the Lord also appeared to Anna and also told her that she would give birth to a blessed daughter. The small southern town of Nazareth, where Joachim and Anna lived, was located three days' journey from Jerusalem. From the very beginning of their life together, they walked from Nazareth to express their great request to God in the famous Temple in Jerusalem: to have a child. And now the dream came true, their joy knew no bounds.

On December 9 (Hereinafter in the biography the dates are given according to the old style.) the Orthodox Church celebrates the conception of the Blessed Virgin, and on September 8 - Her birth. At the age of three, Mary was brought into the Temple in Jerusalem. This was a very important moment; it is no coincidence that the Orthodox Church celebrates such an event. It took place in a very solemn atmosphere: the procession was opened by girls the same age as the Blessed Virgin, with lit candles in their hands, and behind them walked Joachim and Anna together with their blessed daughter, holding hands. They were followed by numerous relatives, among whom were very noble persons. Everyone's faces were lit up with joy. The virgins walked singing spiritual songs, their voices merging with the singing of the Angels.

The Blessed Virgin was destined to spend many years in the Temple of Jerusalem. That temple was the prototype of a monastic monastery. Within the walls of the Temple there were 90 separate spacious rooms-cells. A third of them were allocated to virgins who dedicated their lives to God, the remaining rooms were occupied by widows who gave dinner to remain celibate. The elders looked after the younger ones, taught them to read holy books and do handicrafts. The Blessed Virgin Mary immediately surprised everyone by the fact that she easily comprehended the most difficult passages of the sacred books, better than all the adults who had studied these books all their lives.

After the birth of the desired child, the parents die very soon, first Joachim at the age of 80, then Anna. There was no one even to visit the little child staying in the Temple. Orphanhood and the consciousness of her loneliness turned Mary’s heart even more strongly to God, in Him was contained her entire destiny.

When Mary was fourteen years old, the high priests announced to her that the time had come to get married. Mary replied that she wanted to devote her life to God and wanted to preserve her virginity. What should I do?

An angel of the Lord appeared to the high priest Zechariah and told him the advice of the Most High: “Gather together the unmarried men of the tribe of Judah, from the line of David, let them bring their staffs. And to whomever the Lord shows a sign, hand over the Virgin to him, so that he may become the guardian of Her virginity.”

That's exactly what happened. The high priest Zechariah gathered unmarried men near the temple and turned to God with a prayer: “Lord God, show me a husband worthy of becoming the betrothed of the Virgin.” The staffs of the invited men were left in the sanctuary. When they came for them, they immediately saw how one staff blossomed, and a dove was sitting on the branches that appeared. The owner of the staff turned out to be 80-year-old widower Joseph, who was engaged in carpentry. The dove flew off the staff and began to circle above Joseph’s head. And then Zechariah said: “You will receive the Virgin and keep Her.” At first, Joseph objected, fearing that with adult sons older than Mary, he would become the laughing stock of people. Tradition says that Mary herself was very upset that She had to leave the Temple of God. But by the will of the Almighty, the betrothal took place, only Joseph became not the husband of Mary, in our usual understanding, but the guardian of holiness and a caring servant of the Virgin Mary.

Not much is said about Joseph in Scripture, but still, bit by bit, a fairly clear image can be formed. The elder was a descendant of kings David and Solomon, a man of firm and truthful character, modest, attentive, and hardworking. From his first marriage to Solomiya, he had two daughters and four sons. Before his engagement to Mary, he lived for many years in honest widowhood.

Joseph brought the God-given girl to his home in Nazareth, and they plunged into ordinary everyday affairs. Only Mary had a premonition of a great accomplishment, something indescribable, extraordinary. All people were waiting for the coming of the Messiah, as the only deliverer from numerous vices that entangled people like a web.

Luxurious Rome, which conquered many countries, indulged in pleasures, wallowed in debauchery, perversion, fanaticism, forgetting about all virtues. A catastrophe of the spirit always leads to a catastrophe of the body. Only the Almighty could be a healer of the spirit. And the Virgin Mary, as if instinctively, without realizing it, was preparing for the fulfillment of the greatest Divine plan. Her soul comprehended the birth of the Savior. She did not yet know in what way God would send His Son to Earth, but Her soul itself was already preparing for this meeting. Thus, the Most Holy Virgin of things, in Her essence, alone could unite the age-old foundations of the Old Testament with the new Christian laws of life.

To preach the gospel of His Divine plan, the Lord chose the Archangel Gabriel, one of the very first angels. The icon of the Annunciation (celebration of March 25) reveals to us this great act of the Lord. It depicts the quiet descent from heaven to Earth of an angel in the guise of a magnificent young man. He hands the Virgin Mary a heavenly flower - a lily and pronounces priceless words; "Rejoice, Full of Grace: the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women!" The meaning of these heavenly words is that the Most Holy Virgin conceives a Son, whose kingdom will have no end. Before, She read the sacred books, in particular, the prophet Isaiah, that a certain Virgin would give birth to the Son of Man from God. She was ready to become a servant of That woman, and did not think about her own divine destiny.

Modern man can create doubt in his mind. The Immaculate Conception has raised questions throughout the ages. But the most amazing thing is that hearing the Good News first of all doubted Mary herself. “How will this happen to me when I don’t know my husband?” - were her first words.

A fact may indeed seem dubious if one comprehends it with a cold mind. But it must be accepted not with the mind, but with the soul. The Immaculate Conception or ever-virginity of the Most Holy Theotokos is a union of the heavenly and earthly, the spiritual and the material. That was the moment of the rebirth of a worldly person into Holiness, which people have been worshiping for two millennia.

Moscow Metropolitan Saint Philaret (1782-1867) speaks insightfully and sublimely about this phenomenon: “The virgin is ready to become a mother, She bows before the Divine destiny, but does not want and cannot experience earthly marriage, this common path to birth on Earth.. ". This heart trembles with Divine love alone. Everything - all thoughts, feelings, aspirations - are given to the invisible, unapproachable God. He alone could be Her desired, Her incorruptible bridegroom. And at that moment, as they told Her about the Son, Her purest soul ", frightened by the mere possibility of the thought of earthly marriage, she rushed with strength there, into the heights, to the only desired and awaited God. And then the mysterious, wonderful, immaculate conception took place..."

Thus the words of the Archangel Gabriel were confirmed: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; therefore, the One who is born is holy, and will be called the Son of God.”

Materialists cannot comprehend this miracle. Some accept only physics, others take a bolder step - into metaphysics. But how natural and natural it is to recognize the Divine principle! Although the concept of “beginning” is applicable to a specific phenomenon, and God is Eternity, which cannot have a beginning and an end. God is the force that establishes harmony in the Universe.

The Annunciation icon helps mortal man to accept this spiritual essence and connects us with the Divine world. In Nazareth, where the Archangel Gabriel preached the gospel to the Virgin Mary, a temple was erected in the 4th century in memory of the Annunciation. Unquenchable lamps burn in the altar, casting light on the words that contain the essence of the greatest sacrament: “Yic Verbum caro fuit” (“Here is the word flesh”). Above the throne is an image of the Annunciation and next to it are vases with white lilies. The flower that was in the hands of the Archangel Gabriel symbolizes purity.

One must imagine the state of the Virgin Mary, who must explain to her husband the reason for the already visible fruiting. The sublime and the sinful stood on the same scales in her imagination. A grave drama was brewing in the soul of earthly man. And what was the state of Joseph, who was in awe of Mary, but saw changes in Her figure and suffered from questions that tormented him?! Of course, the Virgin Mary could tell Joseph everything as it happened... But would he believe that the Divine fruit was hidden in Her womb? And how can we speak of ourselves as holiness? The Virgin Mary preferred silent suffering to all such supposed explanations, questions and answers. After all, She was aware of the fact of the ascension of mortal man to an unattainable height.

Righteous Joseph, not knowing the secret of the Lord’s incarnation, showed extraordinary kindness. After much torment, various assumptions and hesitations, he decides to secretly present the Virgin Mary with a letter of divorce without indicating the reason for the divorce. Saint John Chrysostom explains this act this way: “Joseph showed amazing wisdom in this case: he did not accuse or reproach the Virgin, but thought only to let Her go.” He really wanted to preserve the honor of the Virgin and save Her from persecution by the law, thereby satisfying the demands of his conscience. And just as he decided to carry out his plan with the letter, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. All contradictions and omissions were instantly resolved by the Lord's revelation.

The Nativity of Christ and His entire subsequent earthly life are most fully and variedly represented in spiritual literature, in icon painting. Over the course of two millennia, a number of books have been written about it that cannot be counted in the usual circulations. There was no other similar life on Earth that would attract human souls with such unshakable force. Over the course of a gigantic period of time (in the usual human understanding), the burning of lamps and candles did not stop in honor of Jesus Christ on Earth. If black forces blew up the temple of God, then a candle burned in some hut. If it went out in one part of the world, it invariably shone with flame in front of a pure image in another. At all times, the great spiritual feat of Christ, which all people in the world must know about, remained the highest ideal of service to God the Father and service of God the Son to humanity. The life of Jesus Christ was a living example of fulfilling the two first biblical commandments: to love God and to love your neighbor.

Failure to observe these commandments by humanity leads to destruction. Life has convinced us of this more than once. Evil seems to migrate across the planet in time. History records: the obscurantism of pagans of various stripes, the ferocity of the Herodian dynasty, the cruelty of Nero, the fanaticism of the Jesuits, the harmful consequences of the doctrines of philosophers like Nietzsche, the deception of false prophets and the disastrous temptations of the new “kings” and so-called democracy. Where the commandments of the Lord are not kept, evil invades, lies flourish there, and faith in God becomes false; where the commandments of Christ the Savior are not observed, there is constant bloodshed, and love for one’s neighbor is manifested only in words; where the commandments of the Almighty are not observed, there the government is luxurious, and the people are poor. Such a society is doomed to destruction.

If we imagine that Jesus Christ had not come to earth, then there would have been no force at all to counteract evil, and humanity would have ended its existence long ago. The Savior appeared on earth during the reign of King Herod. It is clear what people associate with this name. At all times and to this day, the most vile rulers are called Herods. Whoever opposes them follows the commandments of Christ.

At all stages of the spiritual feat of Jesus Christ himself in the name of saving people, His Mother, the Most Holy Theotokos, stood next to Him. She bore her cross with the greatest earthly dignity. On a cold night, having given birth to a son, She could not shelter Him in Her house ("She gave birth to Her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn) Luke 2:7." King Herod, who unrighteously commanded the people, was very afraid of the coming of the Messiah; he in every possible way prevented the fulfillment of God’s intentions. Having learned about the birth of Christ, he committed a terrible, barbaric crime - he ordered to kill all the babies in Bethlehem and its environs, hoping that among those killed would be the newborn King of the Jews - the Savior. 14,000 innocent children - boys - fell as sacrifices for Christ by the will of King Herod. What fear did the Mother of God feel for the life of her Son?!

She experienced every second of Jesus' life, from birth to crucifixion and ascension. And one must imagine Her grief, how it shook the soul when the ignorant crowd mocked the Holiness, when the blood froze on the forehead of Her Son from the crown of thorns and when the Most Pure Body of Jesus had to be removed from the cross...

After the Ascension of Christ, the earthly path of the Mother of God was still quite long and fruitful.

She was destined, together with the apostles, to carry the teachings of Christ throughout the world. Rejoicing at the successes of the Son’s disciples, the Mother of God herself almost never spoke before the people. However, there is one wonderful exception in the legends... More on it later. The Mother of God sought the essence of Christian teaching not in words, but in life itself. By the way, this is the most effective method of teaching children by parents: you can say little and do a lot, then children will definitely understand how to do and what to do. The Virgin Mary diligently served the poor, gave to the poor, cared for the sick, and helped orphans and widows. She devoted a lot of time to prayers at the tomb of her Son. The Virgin Mary buried Joseph the betrothed when Jesus was in adolescence. Joseph also modestly and nobly fulfilled his life’s feat. The life of each of us should be a feat; the essence of life lies in fulfilling with dignity the destiny given by God to each person. How to do it? Follow your conscience. Conscience should be the guide of life - sent by God, guarded by man. With her existence, material and spiritual efforts, the Mother of God taught people how to live, awakening in man Conscience - the voice of God. The Mother of God - the Mother of God, standing in front of the icon - Her image, a person opens his soul, trusts secrets, sends repentance for sins, hoping for Her mercy and mediation before God. And the Mother of God connects a particle of this Divine principle in man with the Almighty.

The laconic Virgin Mary once nevertheless had to speak to people with a most wonderful sermon, the legend of which has survived to this day. The Mother of God intended to visit Cyprus.

The ship crossed the Mediterranean Sea, and the desired island was about to appear. But suddenly a storm hit the ship, and it became uncontrollable, it was carried to the other side of the world, as if by the will of the heavenly Helmsman. The ship fell into the Aegean Sea, rushed between numerous islands and stopped by the will of the Almighty at the foot of Mount Athos. That area was literally teeming with idolatry temples with a huge temple of Apollo in the center, where various fortune-telling and pagan sorcery were performed.

But then the Mother of God descended from the ship to earth, and people began to flock to Her from everywhere with questions: who is Christ and what did He bring to Earth? And then She was forced to tell people for a long time about the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, about the suffering that befell Him for the sins of people, about execution, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven.

She revealed to people the essence of the teachings of Jesus Christ - about repentance, forgiveness, love for God and neighbor - as great values ​​that affirm goodness, justice and prosperity in the world.

After such a heartfelt sermon of the Mother of God, an extraordinary action took place. Everyone who heard Her wished to be baptized. Leaving Athos, the Mother of God blessed the newly converted Christians and uttered a prophecy: “Let this place be my lot, given to me by My Son and My God. May My grace rest upon those who live here with faith and piety and keep the commandments of My Son and My God. They will have "In abundance and with little difficulty, everything necessary for earthly life, and the mercy of My Son will not fail for them. Until the end of the age, I will be the Intercessor of this place and an intercessor for it before My God."

The further history of Athos to this day confirms that Divine protection has been felt and materialized over that place in all centuries.

The blessings of the Mother of God similar to those of Athos are so endless that a whole chronicle can be compiled from them. Many icons of the Mother of God are dedicated to this. There is a story about them ahead. Towards the end of her earthly life, the Mother of God strove with all Her being towards Heaven. And one day, during prayer, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Her again with a joyful and radiant face, just as decades ago, when he brought the Good News from the Almighty. This time the news was that the Mother of God had only three days left to remain on Earth. With the same great joy, She accepted this message, for there could be no greater happiness for Her than to eternally contemplate the image of Her Divine Son. Archangel Gabriel handed Her a heavenly date branch that emitted extraordinary light day and night. The Mother of God was the first to tell the Apostle John about the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel, who almost never separated from the Mother of God.

Having notified everyone at home about her upcoming departure from the sinful Earth, the Mother of God ordered to prepare Her chambers accordingly: decorate the walls and bed, burn incense, light candles. She exhorted her loved ones not to cry, but rather to rejoice in the fact that, talking with Her Son, She would direct His goodness to everyone living on Earth, and would visit and protect those in need.

Apostles and disciples from all over the world, alerted by the Holy Spirit, gathered in a miraculous manner to see off the Mother of God on her final journey. There were about seventy of them - the most devoted preachers of the teachings of Christ. On the blessed 15th day of August and the third hour from noon, everyone gathered in the temple, decorated especially for the sacred unprecedented action. Many candles were burning, the Mother of God was reclining on a splendidly decorated bed and praying selflessly in anticipation of her outcome and the coming of Her Son and Lord. According to legend, one can imagine an extraordinary picture.

At the appointed time, the entire temple was bathed in a never-before-seen heavenly solemn light. It was as if the walls parted and the King of Glory Christ Himself ascended above the heads of people, surrounded by a host of angels, archangels and other disembodied forces, with the righteous souls of the forefathers and prophets.

Rising from her bed, the Mother of God bowed to Her Son and the Lord with the words: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and My spirit rejoices in God My Savior, for He has looked upon the humility of His servant!.. My heart is ready; be unto Me according to Thy word...”

Looking at the radiant face of the Lord, Her dearest Son, without the slightest bodily suffering, as if sweetly falling asleep, the Mother of God transferred Her most radiant and pure soul into His hands.

Metropolitan of Moscow Saint Philaret, in his letters on the veneration of the Most Holy Theotokos (M. 1844), explains to his compatriots this solemn moment of transition from earthly life to the life of the eternal Virgin Mary: “And since the Ever-Virgin carried the Son of God in Her arms during His earthly infancy, then, as reward for this, the Son of God carries Her soul in His arms, at the beginning of Her heavenly life."

The body of the Virgin Mary was buried on earth. Saints Peter and Paul, with the Lord's brother Saint James and the other apostles, lifted the bed onto their shoulders and carried it from Zion through Jerusalem to the village of Gethsemane. Saint John the Theologian carried before the bed a paradise date branch presented to the Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel. The branch shone with heavenly light. Above the entire crowded procession and the most pure body of the Mother of God, a certain cloudy circle suddenly appeared - something like a crown. And the joyful singing of the heavenly forces spilled into space. Radiance and Divine chants accompanied the procession until the burial.

Tradition testifies to how the unbelieving inhabitants of Jerusalem, amazed by the extraordinary grandeur of the funeral procession and embittered by the honors given to the Mother of Jesus Christ, reported what they saw to the Pharisees. Their order followed: destroy the entire procession and burn the coffin with Mary’s body! But a miracle happened: a shining crown - the Divine Sphere - hid the procession like a protective cap. The soldiers heard the footsteps of people accompanying the Mother of God, heard singing, but could not see anyone. They bumped into each other, into houses and fences, and felt as if they were blind. Nothing could interfere with the solemn burial.

Nowhere in Holy Scripture will we find a narrative about the death of the Virgin Mary. There was no death. Of course, in the understanding of how it happens to an ordinary person, when the body is given over to the earth and the soul to God. The Holy Orthodox Church calls the departure of the Mother of God from earthly life the Assumption. And he sings the Dormition of the Mother of God like this: “The laws of nature are defeated in You, O pure Virgin, virginity is preserved at birth and life is combined with death: remaining a Virgin through birth and living after death, You will always save, Mother of God, Your inheritance.”

The Dormition means that the Virgin Mary, after a difficult many-year wakefulness, fell asleep in a sweet sleep, reposed to the eternal source of life, becoming the Mother of Life, delivering with Her prayers the souls of mortals from torment and death, instilling in them with Her Dormition a living foretaste of eternal life.

The Apostle Thomas, as the legend says, arrived in Gethsemane only on the third day after the burial of the Most Holy Theotokos. He grieved and cried a lot over this and really regretted that he was not awarded Her blessing. And then the other apostles allowed him to open the coffin to make a final farewell. The stone was rolled away, the coffin was opened, but... the body of the Virgin Mary was not there. The apostles began to pray to the Lord that He would reveal His secret to them.

In the evening the holy apostles sat down to a meal. As was customary among them, they left one place unoccupied, and placed a piece of bread in front of it, so that after the meal, giving thanks to the Lord, glorifying the name of the Holy Trinity, this piece of bread could be tasted by everyone as a blessed gift with the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ.” , help us!" Everyone thought and talked during the meal only about the miraculous disappearance of the body of the Mother of God. The meal was over, everyone stood up and, according to custom, raised the bread set aside in honor of the Lord... Looking up, preparing for prayer, everyone saw the Most Pure Virgin Mary, surrounded by many angels. And they heard from Her: “Rejoice! I am with you always!”

The entire earthly life of the Mother of God fits into a specific 72 years, this is evidenced by the calculations of the ancient holy fathers of the church (St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, St. Simeon Metaphrastus), authoritative church historians agree with them. But from the entire holy life of the Blessed Virgin, the Orthodox Church has identified four most important spiritual events, celebrated by great holidays: the Nativity of the Mother of God, the Entry into the Temple, the Annunciation and the Dormition. These holidays are counted among the so-called twelve and are equated to the great holidays of the Lord. There are twelve of them in total per year. Behind every holiday there is a great spiritual event, the reflection of which is an endless number of icons.

But at the same time, the icons of the Most Holy Theotokos themselves have a special life, a special history, they preserve miracles and still have a beneficial effect on people.

Before interpreting the icons of the Most Holy Theotokos, it will be interesting and useful to imagine Her earthly appearance according to the descriptions of eyewitnesses that have come down to us in the sacred books. But the main feature of the Blessed Virgin, which determines all of Her spiritual content, was defined by Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea as follows: “She has a mind controlled by God and directed towards God alone.” All of Her contemporaries, without exception, place the impeccable spiritual qualities of the Mother of God in the foreground.

Saint Ambrose, in the guise of the Mother of God, notices those features that can serve as an ideal person: “She was not eloquent, a lover of reading... Her rule was not to offend anyone, to be kind to everyone, to honor elders, not to envy equals, to avoid boasting, to be sensible, to love virtue. When did She offend her parents, even with the expression of her face? When did she disagree with her relatives? When did she become proud in front of a modest person, laugh at the weak, shy away from the needy? She had nothing stern in her eyes, nothing imprudent in her words, nothing indecent in actions: modest body movements, quiet gait, even voice; so Her bodily appearance was an expression of the soul, the personification of purity."

Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, three years after his conversion to Christianity, was honored to see the Blessed Virgin Mary face to face in Jerusalem, describes this meeting as follows: “When I was brought before the face of the God-like bright Virgin, such a great and immeasurable Divine light enveloped me from without and within and such a wonderful fragrance of various aromas spread around me that neither my weak body nor my spirit itself were able to bear such great and abundant signs and firstfruits of eternal bliss and glory.”

Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer surprisingly accurately defines the essence of the blessed influence of the Mother of God on mere mortal people: “In Her the angelic nature was united with the human.”

From the legends and memories of contemporaries of the Blessed Virgin, a completely visible image emerges. The church historian Nicephorus Kallistus verbally depicted him this way: “She was of average height, golden hair, quick eyes, with pupils as if the color of an olive, arched and moderately black eyebrows, an elongated nose, flowering lips, full of sweet speeches; her face was neither round nor sharp. , but somewhat oblong, arms and fingers long."

At all times, the holy fathers of the church expressed their genuine delight before the image of our Most Pure Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary. For example, the great theologian of the Orthodox Church, Saint John of Damascus (VII century), says: “God, the highest and purest light, loved her so much that through the invasion of the Holy Spirit he was essentially united with Her, and was born from Her as a perfect man, without changing or mixing his properties. ".

It is these properties, specifically defined and named by the venerable chroniclers of the church, the holy fathers and contemporaries of the Virgin Mary, that are present in every icon of the Mother of God, corresponding to one or another event in Her life, one or another feast of the Mother of God, one or another phenomenon associated with Her.

The first icon painter who left the most accurate image of the Mother of God was the disciple of the Apostle Paul and his assistant, the holy evangelist Luke. Pious believers wished to see the face of the Mother of God. Saint Luke paints an image of the Virgin Mary and presents it to Her directly. Having seen the first icon of the Mother of God, or rather her own image, she involuntarily said: “May the grace of the one born of Me and Mine be with this icon!” Her blessing made the icons of the Mother of God blessed - giving the believer good, deliverance from vice, filling the soul with divine light.

The history of the first icon is unique. She spent many years in Antioch, where believers first called themselves Christians. Next, the holy image moves to Jerusalem, and then ends up in Constantinople to the holy queen Pulcheria (in the middle of the first millennium). Together with their husband Emperor Marcian, they erected three magnificent temples in Constantinople in honor of the Mother of God - Chalkopratea, Odigitria and Blachernae. In the temple of Hodegetria they place an icon painted by the holy evangelist Luke.

The Mother of God in the fate of Russia is like a mother for a baby. There is a special mystery in the veneration of the Mother of God by Russian people. It lies in the hope of omnipotent maternal intercession before God. After all, the Almighty is not only a great benefactor, but also a formidable judge. Russians, who have such a valuable character trait as repentance, have always had fear of God side by side with love of God. Like his own mother, a God-fearing sinner asks for the protection of the Mother of God, going to the judgment of the Lord. A person knows his sins; that is why God has given him a conscience. The great Intercessor, Defender, Savior - the Mother of God - helps us to be accountable to God for our sins. It seems to soften the punishment, but it reveals a person’s conscience. When the poet says that “you can’t understand Russia with your mind,” he means precisely Conscience. The Russians entrusted this vulnerable and completely non-material “structure” - the divine essence - to the Mother of God.

There is no more illustrious name in Rus' than the Most Holy Lady and Ever-Virgin Mary. From the very beginning of Russian history, the main cathedral churches have been dedicated to the Mother of God. Byzantine craftsmen erected the Assumption Cathedral in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra at the command of the Mother of God Herself. The desire of the Mother of God to remain in Rus' is attested in the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon. And since then, people in Rus' began to consider their Fatherland as the House of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The veneration of the Mother of God is accomplished primarily through icons. In the church calendar alone there are about three hundred venerated icons of the Mother of God. Each has its own name. There is almost no day in the year that this day is not illuminated by the celebration of one or another icon of the Mother of God.

The outcome of great historical events is associated with the miraculous influence of the icons of the Mother of God. The Don Icon helped in the Battle of Kulikovo; in the salvation of Moscow from Tamerlane and during the great stand on the Ugra - Vladimirskaya; in the Time of Troubles during the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow - Kazan; with the establishment of the ruling Romanov dynasty - Feodorovskaya; in the Battle of Poltava - Kaplunovskaya. In 1917, on the day of the abdication of the martyr Tsar Nicholas II from the throne, it was as if the Mother of God Herself, unexpectedly appearing in the form of the Sovereign, took upon herself the succession of power of the Russian Power. But many people did not preserve this holy image, nor did they preserve themselves.

For Russian people, the saving quality of the Mother of God has always been revered as the blessing of one’s own mother. The people entrusted their souls and all of themselves to the Mother of God. The icons of the Mother of God were treated as living shrines, and therefore they were often given their own names, just like a person.

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The Virgin Mary (Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God) is a Jewish woman from Nazareth, according to the mother of Jesus Christ. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke describe Mary as a virgin, and Christians believe that she conceived a son as an immaculate Virgin by the Holy Spirit. The miraculous birth occurred when Mary was already betrothed to She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.

Mentions of the Virgin Mary in the Bible.

The Virgin Mary is mentioned several times in the New Testament. Most often the Immaculate Virgin Mary is mentioned in Gospel of Luke. She is mentioned by name 12 times. All references are related to the birth and childhood of Jesus.

Gospel of Matthew mentions her name six times, five of them in connection with the infancy of Jesus and only once (13:55) as the mother of the adult Jesus.

Gospel of Mark calls her by name once (6:3) and refers to her as the mother of Jesus without calling her by name in 3:31 and 3:32.

Gospel of John mentions her twice, but never by name. The Gospel says that the Virgin Mary accompanied Jesus when He began His miracles in Cana of Galilee. The second reference says that the Virgin Mary stood at the cross of Jesus.

IN Acts it is said that the Apostles, Mary and the brothers of Jesus gathered in the upper room after the Ascension of Jesus.

IN John's Revelation a woman clothed with the sun is described. Many believe that this is a description of the Virgin Mary.

Genealogy of the Mother of God.

There is little mention in the New Testament of the origins of the Virgin Mary. John 19:25 says that Mary had a sister.

Standing at the cross of Jesus were His Mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

It is semantically unclear from this phrase sister of His Mother, Mary of Cleopas, Is this one person or two different women? . Jerome believes that this is one person. But the historian of the early second century, Hegesippus, believed that Mary of Cleopas was not the sister of the Virgin Mary, but her relative on the part of Joseph the Betrothed.

According to the author of the Gospel of Luke, Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, the wife of the priest Zechariah, and thus came from the line of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. Others believe that Mary, like Joseph, to whom she was betrothed, was from the house of David.

Biography of the Virgin Mary.

The Immaculate Virgin Mary was born in Nazareth in Galilee. After her betrothal to Joseph (betrothal is the first stage of a Jewish marriage), the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced to her that she would become the mother of the promised Messiah. After the first expression of disbelief at the announcement, she replied: “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” Joseph the Betrothed planned to calmly separate from her, but an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him “do not be afraid to accept Mary your wife, for what is born in Her is from the Holy Spirit.”

The angel, in confirmation of his words, also told Mary that her relative Elizabeth, previously barren, conceived by the grace of the Lord. Mary went to the house of her relative, where she saw with her own eyes Elizabeth’s pregnancy and completely believed in the words of the angel. Then the Virgin Mary made a speech of gratitude to the Lord, which is known as the Magnificat or doxology of the Virgin Mary.

After staying three months in Elizabeth's house, Mary returned to Nazareth. According to the Gospel of Luke, Joseph, Mary's husband, was ordered by the Roman Emperor Augustus to return to his hometown of Bethlehem to take the Roman census there. While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a manger, since there was no room for them in any inn. On the eighth day, Mary's baby was circumcised according to Jewish law, and named Jesus, which in Hebrew means "Yahweh is salvation."

After the days of purification had passed, Jesus was carried to Jerusalem to be presented before the Lord, as custom required. The Virgin Mary sacrificed two turtle doves and two pigeon chicks. Here Simeon and Anna prophesied about the future of the baby. After visiting Jerusalem, the Immaculate Virgin Mary and Joseph the Betrothed, together with the baby Jesus, returned to Galilee, to their city of Nazareth.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, an angel appeared to Joseph at night and warned that King Herod wanted to kill the baby. The Holy Family fled at night to Egypt and remained there for some time. After the death of Herod in 4 BC. BC, they returned to the land of Israel, to Nazareth in Galilee.

Virgin Mary in the life of Jesus

According to the New Testament, at the age of twelve, Jesus is separated from his parents upon returning from the Passover celebration in Jerusalem, but the presence of his mother is still traced in His earthly life.

Bible scholars debate much about why Jesus separated from his parents, and in particular from his Mother, since the fate of his earthly father is unknown. Joseph is last mentioned in the Bible when Jesus was 12 years old. Some point to conflict within the Holy Family. Several quotes from the Bible really prove this point. The Gospel of Mark describes the moment:

And His Mother and His brothers came and, standing outside the house, sent to Him to call Him.

The people were sitting around Him. And they said to Him: Behold, Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside the house asking You.

And he answered them: Who are my mother and my brothers?

And looking around at those sitting around Him, He said: Behold My mother and My brothers;

for whoever does the will of God is My brother, and sister, and mother. ()

Quote attributed by the Gospel of Mark to Christ: “ There is no prophet without honor, except in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own home ". Also proves the possibility of conflict.

If there was a conflict in the Holy Family, then the reason for it could be the family’s lack of faith in Christ as the son of God.

American biblical scholar Bart Ehrman believes that "there are clear indications in the Bible not only that Jesus' family rejected his message during his public ministry, but that He, in turn, rejected them publicly."

The Virgin Mary was present when, at her suggestion, Jesus performed his first miracle at the wedding at Cana, turning water into wine. The Virgin Mary was also at the cross on which Jesus was crucified. The moment described in the Gospel when Mary embraced the dead body of her son is a common universal motif in art, and is called “pieta” or “pity”.

After the Ascension of Jesus, we find one single mention of the Virgin Mary in Acts. After this there is no mention of Mary. Her death is not recorded in Scripture, but Catholic and Orthodox traditions believe that her body was taken to heaven. Belief in the bodily Ascension of the Virgin Mary is a dogma of the Catholic Church and many others.

Data about the Virgin Mary from apocryphal texts.

The following biographical information is taken from apocryphal literature.

According to the apocryphal Gospel of James, Mary was the daughter of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. Before Mary's conception, Anna was barren and was far from young. When the girl was three years old, she was brought to the Jerusalem Temple.

According to apocryphal sources, at the time of her betrothal to Joseph, Mary was 12-14 years old, and Joseph was 90, but these data are unreliable. Hippolytus of Thebes claimed that Mary died 11 years after the Resurrection of Jesus and died in 41.

The earliest surviving biographies of the Virgin Mary are Life of the Virgin Mary created in the 7th century by Saint Maximus the Confessor, who considered the Virgin Mary a key figure in the early Christian Church.

In the 19th century, the so-called House of the Virgin Mary was found in a house near Ephesus in Turkey. It was found based on the visions of Anna Catherine Emmerich, an Augustinian blessed nun from Germany. The nun, 2 years before her death, during one of the many visions of the Mother of God, received a detailed description of the place where Mary lived before her Assumption.

According to legend, the Blessed Virgin Mary retired to Ephesus during the persecution of Christians along with John the Theologian. In 1950, the House of the Virgin was reconstructed and turned into a chapel.

Virgin Mary in Orthodoxy

The Orthodox tradition has accepted the doctrine of virginity. According to this doctrine, the Virgin Mary “conceived a virgin, gave birth to a virgin, remained a virgin.” Hymns to the Mother of God are an integral part of worship in the Eastern Church and their positioning within the liturgical sequence indicates the position of the Mother of God after Christ. In the Orthodox tradition, the order of listing the saints begins with the Mother of God, followed by angels, prophets, apostles, church fathers, martyrs, etc.

One of the most beloved Orthodox akathists is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Five of the twelve great church holidays in Orthodoxy are dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

• Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a holiday dedicated to the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Nativity of the Virgin Mary is celebrated on September 21.

• Introduction to the Temple

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple- a holiday dedicated to one of the events in the life of the Virgin Mary. Her parents Jochim and Anna brought their daughter to the Temple at the age of three, as they had previously vowed to dedicate the child to God. The holiday is celebrated on December 4th.

• Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The holiday is celebrated exactly 9 months before the birth of Christ. The day is dedicated to the appearance of an angel who announced to the Virgin Mary that she would become the mother of God on Earth.

Orthodox holiday celebrated on the day of the death of the Virgin Mary. According to the apocrypha, the Virgin Mary died on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. There now is the Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the apocrypha “The Tale of the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God,” the apostles were carried on clouds from all over the world to the deathbed of the Mother of God. Only the Apostle Thomas was delayed for three days and did not find the Virgin Mary alive. He wanted to say goodbye to the Virgin Mary. At his request, the tomb of the Virgin Mary was opened, but the body was not there. Therefore, it is believed that the Virgin Mary ascended to heaven. The Dormition of the Virgin Mary is celebrated on August 28.

• Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrated on October 14. This Orthodox holiday is based on the legend of the appearance of the Mother of God to the holy fool Andrew. This happened in Constantinople, which was besieged by enemies. The people in the temple prayed to God for salvation from the barbarians. Saint Andrew the Fool saw the Mother of God praying for the salvation of the people of Constantinople. Then the Mother of God took the veil from her head and covered the people who were present in the temple with it, thereby protecting them from visible and invisible enemies. The cover of the Mother of God sparkled brighter than the rays of the sun. It is believed that the Mother of God saved Constantinople.

Veneration of the Mother of God in the Orthodox Church.

The prerequisites for the exaltation of the Virgin Mary by all peoples (tribes) are given in the Bible itself, where it is said on behalf of the Virgin Mary:

... My soul magnifies the Lord, and My spirit rejoices in God, My Savior, that He has looked upon the humility of His Servant, for from now on all generations will bless Me; that the Mighty One has done great things for Me, and holy is His name ().

In chapter 11 of the Gospel of Luke, the words of a woman from the people are quoted:

...blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!

Moreover, John the Theologian in the Gospel of John testifies that Jesus performed the first miracle at the request of his mother, therefore the Mother of God is revered as an intercessor for the human race. There are a huge number of icons of the Mother of God. Many of them are considered miraculous.

Humanity has been waiting for its Savior for a very long time. Even in the Old Testament, God promised that the Savior would come into this world through a woman, but without male seed. The Virgin Mary voluntarily agreed to this, although at that time it was very dangerous, including for life. The Virgin Mary had enough faith, spiritual strength and humility to take this step. The Mother of God knew from the very beginning that the earthly ministry of her Son would end quickly and tragically. As a mother, she endured the worst to save humanity.

Mariology - the doctrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mariology is the theological study of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. Christian Mariology seeks to connect the Holy Scriptures and the traditions and teachings of the Church about the Virgin Mary in the context of social history.

There are various Christian views on the role of the Virgin Mary in Christianity, from complete veneration of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church to a minimized role of Mary in Protestant evangelical theology.

A significant number of publications in this area were written in the 20th century by theologians Raimondo Spiazzi (2500) and Gabriel Roccini (900). The centers of modern Mariology are the Pontifical Institute of Mariology and the Pontifical Academy of Mariology.

If you<Богородица>had I known my husband, I would not have been worthy to serve this cause<Боговоплощения>... not because marriage was evil, but because virginity is better; and the coming of the Lord should have been more solemn than ours, because it is royal, and the king enters by the most solemn way. He had to both participate in birth and be different from ours. That is why both things work out: to be born from the womb is common to us, and to be born without marriage is higher than what happens to us; to be conceived and carried in the womb is human nature; and to conceive without copulation is superior to human nature.

John Chrysostom

A long time ago, a beautiful woman once asked me: “Why is the Mother of God honored so highly, not only above all holy people, but even above Angels and Archangels?” I answered: “Because neither the Angels and Archangels, nor the Cherubim, nor the Seraphim had such a close and significant participation in the arrangement of our salvation as She did.” The dispensation of our salvation is called the incarnate Dispensation. It was necessary for the Son of God and God to take human nature into His person, and without this our salvation could not be arranged... This nature was taken from the Ever-Virgin through the influx of the Holy Spirit and the overshadowing of the power of the Most High. Angels and Archangels serve during the incarnation externally, without entering into the essence of the work of incarnation: whereas the Mother of God enters into its very essence. For this reason, the niche of all creatures is honored... By virtue of this essential participation and incarnation, Her intercession for us is stronger than all.

Feofan the Recluse

The Virgin-Mother is, as it were, the only boundary between the created and uncreated Divine nature. And all who see God will recognize Her as the place of the Inconceivable. And all who praise God will sing Her after God. She is the cause of the blessings and gifts that preceded Her to the human race, and the Giver of the present, and the Intercessor of the eternal. She is the foundation of the prophets, the beginning of the apostles, the foundation of the martyrs, the foundation of the teachers. She is the glory of those on earth, the joy of those in heaven, the adornment of all creation. She is the beginning, source and root of the hope prepared for us in heaven, which may we all be worthy to receive through Her prayers for us, to the glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born before the ages and who was recently incarnate from Her.

Gregory Palamas

When you see the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, turn your heart to Her, the Queen of Heaven, and thank Her for the fact that She appeared so ready to submit to the will of God, that she gave birth to, nursed and raised the Savior of the world, and that in our invisible battle She never fails intercession to help us.

Nikodim Svyatogorets

She was a Virgin not only in body, but also in soul: humble in heart, careful in words, prudent, reticent, a lover of reading... hardworking, chaste in speech, considering not man, but God as the Judge of Her thoughts. Her rules were not to offend anyone, to be kind to everyone, to honor elders, not to envy equals, to avoid boasting, to be sensible, to love virtue. Has She ever offended her parents, even with the expression of her face, or been in disagreement with her relatives, been proud of herself in front of a modest person, laughed at the weak, or shirked the poor? She had nothing stern in her gaze, nothing imprudent in her words, nothing indecent in her actions: modest body movements, quiet gait, even voice; so Her appearance was a reflection of the soul, the personification of purity.

Ambrose of Milan

The Ever-Virgin is above all holy men, both for the reason that she became the Mother of the God-Man, and for the reason that She was the most constant, the most attentive listener and executor of the teachings proclaimed by the God-Man.

Ignatiy Brianchaninov

When I was brought before the face of the godlike, most luminous Virgin, a great and immeasurable Divine light enveloped me from the outside and inside, and such a wondrous fragrance spread around me that neither my weak body nor my very spirit was able to endure such abundant and great signs and firstfruits eternal bliss and glory. My heart fainted, my spirit fainted from Her glory and Divine grace! The human mind cannot imagine any glory or honor<даже в состоянии людей, прославленных Богом>higher than the bliss that I tasted then, unworthy, but honored by mercy and blessed beyond all imagination.

Dionysius the Areopagite

The Greeks recognized that the mother of their gods, even the most supreme, both conceived and gave birth as a result of lust and unspeakable passion, because, as the mother of such gods, she did not leave a single type of lust unknown and unimplemented. About the same one, about whom we confess that she became the Mother of our incarnate God, all generations of men in the very truth recognized that She once accepted a single conception without seed and the corruption that mediates it. If you do not believe what has been said, then you will understand in all the truth from the power of the Begotten; because He gave sight to the blind, cleansed lepers from ulcers and illnesses, gave the dumb, tongue-tied and deaf the ability to hear and speak clearly, walked along the ridge of the sea, tamed the arrogance of the waves and the swift attacks of the winds, with a single word drove out hordes and squads of demons, many dead people with a word also called to life again. These signs of His Divinity were conveyed to us by self-witnesses, who kept their testimony to such an extent that they were uninvolved in flattery and servility that they described those that served to humiliate Him: persecution, abuse, throwing stones, spitting, beating on the cheeks, strangulation, the cross, nails and death. This death was soon followed by the Resurrection, which indicates that the sufferer is God incarnate, and at the same time preaches that she who gave birth is the Mother of the incarnate God, if only such things necessarily accept similar names.

Isidore Pelusiot

Ever-Virgin Mary is the Mother of God. The Most Holy Virgin Mary gave birth to One who, being the true God, at the very moment of conception in Her womb took on human nature into the unity of His Hypostasis. So, even in the incarnation from Her, He was, and after the incarnation, He invariably remains the one Divine Person, as He existed from eternity before the incarnation. She gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ - not according to His Divinity, but according to humanity, which, however, from the very moment of His incarnation, became inseparably and hypostatically united in Him with His Divinity. From the very moment of His incarnation it was deified by Him and became His own to His Divine Face. So both the conception, and the stay in the womb of the Virgin during a certain period of pregnancy, and the birth from Her actually belonged to His Divine Person. She gave birth not to an ordinary man, but to the true God, and not just to God, but to God in the flesh, who did not bring a body from heaven and pass through Her as through a channel, but who received from Her flesh, consubstantial with us, which received hypostasis in Himself.

John of Damascus

The descent of the Holy Spirit on the Ever-Virgin took place twice. For the first time, the Holy Spirit descended on Her after the gospel spoken by the Archangel Gabriel, cleansed Her, pure according to human understanding, made her pure with grace, capable of receiving God’s Word into herself and becoming His Mother... The second time, the Holy Spirit descended on the Virgin on the day of Pentecost ... Then the Holy Spirit destroyed the dominion of eternal death and original sin in Her, elevated Her to a high level of Christian perfection, and made Her a new person in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ignatiy Brianchaninov

The divine body of the God-man was conceived Divinely and born Divinely. Virgo. performed the birth, being at the time of birth filled with the most holy spiritual joy. Disease did not accompany this birth, just as disease did not accompany the taking of Eve from Adam.

Ignatiy Brianchaninov

On the third day after Her blessed Dormition, the Mother of God resurrected and now lives in heaven in body and soul. She not only lives in heaven, She reigns in heaven... The Holy Church, turning with petitions to all the greatest saints of God, to all the Angels and Archangels, says to them: “Pray to God for us,” she asks the Mother of God alone: ​​“Save us "

Ignatiy Brianchaninov

Annunciation and establishment of the sacrament of Body and Blood. What a combination! We partake of the true Body and true Blood of Christ - those same ones that, in the Incarnation, were received from the immaculate blood of the Most Pure Virgin Theotokos. Thus, in the Incarnation, which took place at the hour of the Annunciation, the foundation was laid for the sacrament of the Body and Blood. And now this is brought to the memory of all Christians, so that, remembering this, they honor the Most Holy Theotokos as their true Mother, not only as a prayer book and intercessor, but also as a nourisher of all. Children feed on their mother’s milk, and we feed on the Body and Blood, which come from the Most Holy Virgin Mary.

Feofan the Recluse

The Holy Spirit descended on the pure Virgin and further purified Her... The Pure Virgin became Most Pure, alien to all filth thought and felt, and became a grace-pure, Spirit-bearing, Divine Virgin. Into such a renewed and God-adorned vessel, which acquired from the action of the Holy Spirit in it the ability and dignity to receive God the Word, the Word God descended, became both a seed and a fruit in the womb of the Virgin, and became human.

Ignatiy Brianchaninov

About the Uncorrupted and Unartificial One, it is impossible to use the word “conception” in the proper sense, because the names virginity and carnal conception are not combined in One and the Same One. But just as the Son was given to us without a father, so the Child is born without carnal conception. The Virgin, just as she did not know how the God-receiving body was formed in Her body, did not feel the birth, because, according to the testimony of prophecy, She had a birth without birth illnesses. Isaiah says: before you come to labor, you will avoid stomach pain, and give birth to the male sex (cf. Is. 66:7).

Gregory of Nyssa

The Holy Spirit shone in a pure mirror, in the immaculate body of the Virgin, forming a perfect Man not according to the law of nature, not in time, not from human seed, but with one appearance, spiritual and holy power, he moved the Virgin to birth, inexplicably searching for the Embryo in Her, as if what kind of fabric to save people.

John Chrysostom

Just as the Lord replaced Adam with Himself, so He replaced Eve with the Mother of God. Eve, being created as a virgin, transgressed the commandment of God and could not retain the holy feeling of virginity... The Mother of God, being conceived and born in the sin of her forefathers, prepared Herself with a chaste and God-pleasing life into a vessel of God.

Ignatiy Brianchaninov

She said the words: “Behold the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38) both after the Virgin conceived in her womb, and after she gave birth, the Virgin, for the prophet announced not only that the Virgin would conceive, but also that the Virgin would give birth (Isa. 7:14).

Ambrose of Milan

With all the greatness of the Mother of God, Her conception and birth took place according to the general law of humanity, therefore, the general confession of the human race about conception in iniquities and birth in sin also belongs to the Mother of God. The Mother of God confesses before all humanity in the Gospel... that the God born by Her is also Her Savior. If God is Her Savior, then She was conceived and born in sin according to the general law of fallen humanity.

Ignatiy Brianchaninov

The Mother of God did not know the struggle with carnal desires: before lust could act in Her, the Holy Spirit descended on Her, imprinted Her purity, gave Her spiritual pleasure, to which Her heart clung.

Ignatiy Brianchaninov

Who would not be surprised that during the entire time from Adam’s crime to the incarnation of the Word of God, who came to earth to save the human race in half six thousand years, not a single virgin was found on earth who was pure not only in body, but also in spirit ? She alone turned out to be the first and last such Virgin who, by her physical and spiritual purity, became worthy of being the church and temple of the Holy Spirit. And just as then, thanks to her virgin purity, she ascended and approached God the Holy Spirit and united into one spirit with God, as the Scripture says: “he who is united with the Lord is one spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:17), so and in her most honorable Assumption she ascended by the same step to him, to heaven and above heaven. She ascended to God the Son by the level of humility, for through humility she became worthy to be His Mother. By the same step She ascended to heaven and surpassed in honor and dignity all the faces of the saints... By the same high level of deepest humility She achieved the highest honor of the Birth of God, incorruptible motherhood, for during Her humble words: “Behold, the Handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:38) in Her most pure virgin womb “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Humility is the foundation of everything, and all other virtues serve as a kind of superstructure on this foundation. And in her life, the Most Pure Virgin approached God most of all with humility, Who says: “On whom will I look: the humble and contrite in spirit” (Is. 66:2). With the same humility and in her Assumption, She ascended to heaven and was elevated with glory to the throne of the Heavenly Kingdom, for humility reigns of the Most Pure Virgin where pride has been cast down. She ascended to the third highest person of the Holy Trinity - God the Father - by the third highest step - love, for according to to the apostle “the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). Through her She became the Daughter of the Heavenly Father. How the Most Pure Virgin loved God, no language can explain this, no mind can comprehend, for love is one of the unknown secrets of the heart, known only to God and the searching heart. ...People have different types of love: they love their parents in a special way, or a friend, or a son. The love of the Most Pure Virgin had no differences, for the One Whom She loved was for Her both the Father, and the only Son, and the incorruptible Bridegroom. All of Her all-encompassing love was directed towards the one God, and for her sake She was called the bride of the Holy Spirit, and the Mother of God the Son, and the Daughter, not by such communion as all become faithful children of God, according to the words of Scripture: “To those who believe in His name He gave authority to be children of God" (Jn. 1:12), and in another place: “And I will receive you. And I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:17-18). The Most Pure Virgin became the daughter of God the Father by another, incomparably higher, most honest and closest assimilation. Let us imagine that a certain man took two young orphaned girls to himself, raised them as daughters, and called them both his daughters, and then made one of them his bride his half-son. This young woman, who was married to his son, becomes, according to the law of nature, his closest daughter, related to him to a greater degree than that young woman who was not married to his son. For this one is only his named daughter, the first one, and according to the law of nature, becomes his daughter, since she becomes one flesh with his son, according to the law of nature - the daughter of the same father. The same can be said about the Most Pure Mother of God. So with these three steps<я не упоминаю бесчисленных других>The Mother of God now ascends to what is above: to God the Holy Spirit with virginal purity, to God the Son with humility, and to God the Father with love. I will say more: by all these steps She ascended to the one God in the Trinity. For by what she pleased God the Holy Spirit, she pleased both God the Son and God the Father; by what she pleased God the Son, she pleased both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit; by what she pleased God the Father, she pleased God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

The main female figure for Orthodox believers is the Virgin Mary, who was given the honor of becoming the Mother of the Lord. She led a righteous life and helped people cope with various troubles. After ascending to heaven, believers began to pray to the Mother of God, asking for help in various situations.

Virgin Mary in Orthodoxy

For believers, the Mother of God is the main intercessor before her Son and Lord. She is the woman who gave birth and raised the Savior. It is believed that nothing is impossible for the Mother of God, and people ask her for salvation for their souls. In Orthodoxy, the Virgin Mary is called the patroness of every person, since she, like a loving mother, worries about her children. More than once the appearance of the Virgin Mary occurred, which was accompanied by miracles. There are many icons, temples and monasteries created in honor of the Mother of God.

Who is the Virgin Mary?

A lot of information is known about the life of the Mother of God, which can be found in the apocrypha and in the memoirs of people who knew her during her earthly life. The following main facts can be highlighted:

1. The Holy Virgin Mary was in a specialized school at the Jerusalem Temple until she was 12 years old. Her parents sent her there, who made a vow that their daughter would devote her life to the Lord.
2. The appearance of the Mother of God was described by the church historian Nicephorus Callistus. She was of medium height, golden hair, and olive-colored eyes. The Virgin Mary's nose is oblong and her face is round.
3. To feed her family, the Mother of God had to constantly work. It is known that she was a good weaver and independently created the red tunic that Jesus wore before the crucifixion.
4. The Virgin Mary constantly followed Jesus until the end of his earthly life. After the crucifixion and ascension of Christ, the Mother of God remained to live with John the Theologian. Further life is known to a greater extent from the apocryphal “Proto-Gospel of Jacob”.
5. The death of the Virgin Mary was recorded in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, where the Catholic Church is now located. According to the apocrypha, apostles from different parts of the world arrived at his deathbed, but only Thomas stayed behind, so at his request the tomb was not closed. On the same day, the body of the Virgin Mary disappeared, so it is believed that the Ascension of the Virgin Mary took place.

Symbols of the Virgin Mary

There are many symbols that relate to the Virgin Mary:

1. A monogram made up of two letters “MR”, which means Maria Regina - Mary, Queen of Heaven.
2. A common sign of the Virgin Mary is a winged heart, sometimes pierced by a saber and depicted on a shield. This picture is the coat of arms of the Virgin Mary.
3. The name of the Mother of God is associated with a crescent moon, a cypress tree and an olive tree. The flower symbolizing the purity of the Virgin Mary is the lily. Since the Virgin Mary is considered the queen of all saints, one of her symbols is the white rose. She is represented with five petals, which is associated with the name Maria.

Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary

The sinlessness of the Mother of God did not immediately become a dogma, since the authors of the first Christian texts did not pay attention to this issue. Many do not know how the Virgin Mary became pregnant, but according to legend, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven to her, and an immaculate conception occurred, thanks to which original sin was not transferred to Jesus Christ. In Orthodoxy, the Immaculate Conception is not accepted as a dogma and it is believed that the Mother of God was freed from sin thanks to contact with Divine grace.

How did the Virgin Mary give birth to Jesus?

It is not possible to find details regarding how the Virgin’s birth took place, but there is information that it was absolutely painless. This is explained by the fact that Christ emerged from his mother’s womb without opening it or expanding the paths, that is, the Mother of God Virgin Mary remained a virgin. It is believed that Jesus was born when his mother was 14-15 years old. There were no midwives near the Mother of God; she herself took the child in her arms.

Prophecies of the Virgin Mary at Fatima

The most famous apparition of Our Lady is the Miracle of Fatima. She came to three shepherd children, and each of her appearances was accompanied by a number of inexplicable incidents, for example, the random movement of the sun across the sky was observed. During the communication, the Mother of God revealed three secrets. The predictions of the Virgin Mary of Fatima have been revealed at different times:

1. At her first appearance, the Mother of God showed the children terrible visions of Hell. She said that the First World War would soon end, but if people did not stop sinning and offending God, he would punish them with various disasters. The sign will be the appearance of bright light at night, when it will be visible as during the day. According to some data, before the outbreak of World War II, the northern lights were observed in Europe.
2. The second appearance of the Virgin Mary brought another prophecy and it says that when everything is illuminated by an unknown light at night, it will be a sign that God is going to punish the world. To prevent this from happening, the Mother of God will come to ask for the consecration of Russia, and also for the holding of expiatory sacraments on every first Saturday of the month. If people listen to her requests, then there will be peace, but if not, then wars and new cataclysms cannot be avoided. Many believe that this prophecy speaks of the spread of communism, which was accompanied by various clashes.
3. The third prophecy was received in 1917, but the Virgin Mary did not allow its discovery until 1960. The Pope, having read the prophecy, refused to reveal it, citing the fact that it did not concern his time. The text indicates that an assassination attempt will be made on the Pope and this happened in May 1981. The Pope himself admitted that it is believed that the Mother of God protected him from death.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary

There are a huge number of prayer texts addressed to the Mother of God. She helps believers cope with various problems, this is how women who want to get pregnant and get married turn to her, ask her for healing and material benefits, pray to her for children, and so on. There are several rules regarding the pronunciation of prayer texts:

1. You can turn to the Mother of God in church and at home, the main thing is to have an icon before your eyes. It is recommended to light a candle nearby to make it easier to concentrate.
2. The prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary must be said from a pure heart and with faith in her power. Any doubts are a block to assistance.
3. You can turn to the Mother of God at any time when your soul desires.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary of Lourdes

In 1992, the Pope established a holiday in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes. People turn to her for help to receive healing from illnesses. During her lifetime, the Holy Virgin healed the suffering and after that became the savior of the sick. When she was a child, the Virgin Mary, the Most Holy Theotokos, began to appear to her and taught her the rules of prayer, called her to repentance for sinful people and asked her to build a church. She showed the girl where the healing source was. Bernadette was canonized only 10 years after her death.

Strong prayer to the Virgin Mary for help

In Christianity, prayer to the Mother of God is considered the most powerful and effective. They ask her for help in various situations, the main thing is that the request is serious, since it is better not to disturb the Higher Powers over trifles. The prayer to the Virgin Mary for help should be repeated daily and even up to several times a day. You can say it out loud or to yourself. The sacred text, when read regularly, instills hope and gives strength not to give up in a difficult situation.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for well-being

A person's life is filled with different situations that are not always positive. Women are the guardians of the family hearth, so representatives of the fair sex should pray for the well-being of their relatives. The Blessed Virgin Mary will help reconcile people, and another one will protect from quarrels and family destruction. With the help of the presented prayer, you can protect yourself and your loved ones from various negativity from the outside.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for health

There is a huge amount of evidence from believers who confirm that sincere prayerful appeals to the Mother of God helped to be healed of various ailments. The prayer to the Holy Virgin Mary can be said in church, but it is also recommended to place an image at home near the patient’s bed, light a candle and pray. You can say the text on, and then give the person with the disease a drink and wash it.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for marriage

Many girls who are in search of a soul mate turn to the Most Holy Theotokos so that she can bring petitions to the Lord and help them improve their personal lives. She is considered the main intercessor of all women, helping them in love affairs. To find happiness and love, you need to read a prayer to the Virgin Mary every day until what you want becomes real. Prayer requests will not only increase the chances of meeting a worthy life partner, but will also protect the relationship from various problems and help build a happy family.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for children

The Mother of God is the main mother for all believers, since she gave the world the Savior. A huge number of people turn to her for help, asking for their children. The blessed Virgin Mary will help guide the child on the righteous path, discourage him from bad company and give him inspiration to find himself in this world. Regular prayer to the mother will be a strong protection against illnesses and various problems.